Meet the team

Cindy is the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland, and Clinical Director of Fertility Plus and Gynaecology at National Women’s, Auckland, New Zealand. Cindy has over 300 peer reviewed publications. She is the coordinating editor of the Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group. In 2014 she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and in 2019 a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2020 Cindy was appointed the Dean of Research and Policy at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Sonja is an Associate Professor in psychology at Auckland University of Technology and a registered clinical psychologist. Her research focuses on the psychosocial and ethical implications of infertility and its treatment for men, women, their families, and individuals conceived through treatment, in particular, through donor conception. She has published papers, presented at conferences and to practitioner and consumer groups, and supervised research students in a range of areas including on embryo donation experiences, views on recognition and compensation for donation, counselling practice, motivations for and experiences of egg donation, parenting after infertility, choice motherhood, experiences of donor conception and cross border reproductive care. Sonja is an Associate Editor for Human Reproduction, is a board advisor for FertilityNZ, and a member of the Australian and New Zealand Infertility Counsellors’ Association (ANZICA) research and membership committees. Sonja is a strong advocate for the need for support for those affected by infertility and assisted reproductive technologies.

Jeanne lectures and researches in the field of health law with a particular interest in the regulation of reproduction (both assisted and unassisted)  and in legal responses to new biomedical technologies.  Jeanne’s doctoral thesis explored the ethical and legal issues regarding preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and she has published on topics such as selective reproduction, donor conception, minors and medical decision making, and disability-related issues.  Jeanne is currently a member of the ministerial Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ECART) that is established under the HART Act.

Sarah is a gynaecologist and fertility specialist and currently the medical director of Fertility Associates Christchurch. She works in all areas of fertility medicine but has particular interests in recurrent miscarriage, genetics relating to fertility, and the use of donors and surrogates in treatment. She has been involved in a number of research projects over the years and teaches medical students, general practitioners and other doctors on a regular basis. Currently she sits on ACART (the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology to the Ministry of Health) as the member with expertise in the area of assisted reproductive technology.

Dr Ken Daniels is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. He has worked in the field of assisted human reproduction for 45 years undertaking counselling, research and policy development in this country and many countries overseas. He has published over 140 papers and chapters in books. Ken was Deputy Chair of the Government’s Advisory Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction for 9 years.

Annabel (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health at the University of Canterbury. Since graduating with her Master of Public Health in 2000, Annabel has worked as a researcher in a broad range of areas relating to Māori development and advancement. More recently as part of her PhD research and a Marsden-funded research project, Annabel has investigated Māori experiences of closed adoption and whāngai, and the implications for whakapapa, whānau and identity. She is also involved in research relating to reproductive and maternal health, including donor conception openness and māmā and pēpi emotional engagement. Annabel was recently appointed to ECART as a non-lay member with expertise in health research.

Bec is the co-founder of Donor Conceived Aotearoa (DCA), the first advocacy organisation for the rights of donor-conceived New Zealanders, led by donor-conceived people (DCP). Conceived by anonymous donation, Bec spent over two decades searching for her genetic identity. In the process, she met many New Zealand donors and DCP. Her 2001 documentary about her search helped catalyse momentum for the passage of the 2004 HART Act, securing the right to identity for future DCP in New Zealand. In early 2021, she finally discovered her genetic origins through online DNA testing and began meeting her newfound biological family in Kororāreka later that year.

Bec is also a law professor, teaching criminal law, national security law, and international law at American University. She is an internationally recognized expert on atrocity prevention, and her scholarship draws on her experience in the prosecution of genocide and war crimes at the International Criminal Court, as well as her work in conflict zones as a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post. She is a proud first generation high school graduate who received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 2007. She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and four young children.